they have landed in Cartersville where they feel the most at home, Jill says. Johnny Mitchell’s Smokehouse has a twofold mission. One is to create community and serve food infused with love. The second is to nurture a staff of hard workers and prepare them for the workforce beyond the restaurant floor. “By definition, working at a restaurant is ‘what you do in the meantime,’” Jill explains. “We help people get where they need to be. We are a first-time employer and we are a second-chance employer. It puts people on their feet, helps get them through school and move on to their next thing. They learn everything they need to be a good employee for their next employer, and when they graduate in their field, I hire them again. Being of service like that, I think, is invaluable for both parties. You get to impact lives and change people.” It seems that creating communities and impacting lives weren’t necessarily the top two items on their to-do lists when Johnny and Jill fell into the restaurant business, but it happened nonetheless. Jill recalls a day years ago when she felt the full force of her calling. “One lady wandered in; it was a day that we were not really open. It was years ago,” she says. “She was so lost and so lonely, and we took her in and fed her on a day the restaurant wasn’t open. And she never knew (we weren’t open) until the very end. I just am so grateful that my life can have an impact like that.” There’s a difference between a job and a vocation. Through three decades of tweaking menus, changing locations, building their mission, trucking through the hardest times and coasting along the best, the owners of Johnny’s Smokehouse know there’s no place they’d rather be than serving up a delicious meal, with you at their table. “It turns out this is what we’re meant to be doing,” Jill says. “That helps when things get really hard, to know you’re doing what you were meant to do.”
Coosa Valley Home Health Care, an Amedisys company, is in the business of helping our patients maintain and improve their quality of life-at home. Home is the place where family, friends and familiar surroundings make patients feel most comfortable - and recover faster. With more than two decades of experience in the health care industry, we understand the importance of delivering high-quality services to patients in their homes. Choose Coosa Valley for all your home care needs.
Visit Johnny Mitchell’s Smokehouse online at johnnymitchellssmokehouse.com or visit their new location at 650 Henderson Drive #403, Cartersville, Georgia.
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